A new routine is in the making. I’m one of those types that likes a set routine, I do soooooo much better in life when I know what I am doing, when I am doing it and when it needs to be done. Selling our house of 28 years and moving in with family has been very disruptive to my normal routines. Rather than continue the battle of trying to fit my old routines into the new situation I’ve decided that a new routine is a MUST if I am going to be successful for the year or so until we move. This is going to be a big job for this hermit, and Number One on the routine list is going to be finding a day, time, and place that I can be alone with my thoughts long enough to blog about my fiber world. Here is my first step……Not quite a She-Shed, but I am staking out my own little corner of the yard where no one can see me:)
Cheryl’s little hide away
Declaration of Routine #1: every morning after watering the veggies I spend time with coffee and computer in my little hide away!
Speaking of veggies…..take a look at what those little seeds and starts from a few weeks ago turned into!!!!
Red, Yellow, and Green Peppers….YUM!!!Tomatoes growing ramped!!!!!!!!Carrots, 3 colors of Chard, and even MORE tomato plants!!!!
My time in my little hide away is coming to an end (hubby just promised me french toast with fresh blueberries for breakfast…not going to pass that up…lol). Sorry I didn’t get to much for fiber content today…… How about I leave you with a lovely picture from Black Sheep Gathering…..
The Lovely Nadine modeling her beautiful shawl she spun from 1234 Huey fiber
Time to go, the french toast and blueberries are calling my name…..
We will see how my first new routine works….see you tomorrow?????
Black Sheep Gathering is almost here! I started prepping for the show about 2 months ago. I knew MIL’s surgery/recovery would take up much of my time just before the show, so I had to start early. Of course I will have my fences full of handspun yarns, and a whole lot of hand painted spinning fiber. I did pretty good in the dyeing department. I will be taking 278 bags of hand painted Bam Huey Fiber, 56 bags of Baa Baa Huey Gradients, 67 bags of 1234 Huey 3 color gradients, 36 bags of my new line of Semi Solid Baa Baa Huey fiber, and to top it off 36 bags of Baby Camel Down. If I am doing my math right, that means I am taking 473 bags of spinning fiber to Black Sheep! OK spinners come and get it!!!!!!
278 bags of hand painted Bam Huey Fiber
I thought about doing a “Fiber Pit” for spinners, you know, like they have the ball pits for children to play in at fast food joints…..Could be fun, but I just haven’t quite figured out how to fit one in my booth at Black Sheep. I will have 473 bags of fiber at the show…….that’s a pretty good start to fill a spinner’s “Fiber Pit”!
I’ve been working on stuff other than painting fiber for Black Sheep. I’ve been making stitch markers and shawl pins.
Stitch Marker Tree for Black Sheep is filling up!
I will have a limited number of our Newhouse Custom Carbon Fiber Needles at the show, and as always I will be taking custom orders for the needles. You can stop by and do a little test knitting. Good news, Free shipping for all custom orders placed and paid for at Black Sheep Gathering. Remember to bring your cash or check book, because we will not be able to take cards at the show. I am happy to accept Paypal If you have a smart phone and can send a payment at the time of purchase.
Another big project in prepping for Black Sheep Gathering is booth planning. For the past 18 years of Black Sheep I have been lucky to share a booth with Duncan Carders. This year Black Sheep Gathering has moved into a new building and I thought this would be the purrrrfect time to get my own booth and quit crowding the Duncans out of their booth! I’ve been working on the booth lay out to get the most out of the 100 square feet. Biggest challenge I deal with now is finding enough space to try out the set up. I can only do about 6 feet at a time in our little apartment so I am keeping my fingers crossed that I am doing my math right and that all will fit…lol. Here are some pictures of my test set ups….you really have to use your imagination. I will be sure to take pictures once I am set up at Black Sheep so you can see how these set ups really look:)
Yes this really will be the South wall of my Black Sheep Booth…..North West Corner where I will be spinning…
I’m in booth F-3, right up front by the doors to the concession stand and the ladies room……you just about HAVE to pass by me at some time, so be sure to stop by and say hello:)
Remember……. bring your cash or check book, because I will not be able to take credit/debit cards at the show. Paypal is fine If you have a smart phone and can send a payment at the time of purchase.
Back to the grindstone for me, for there are still yarns to be spun and shawls to be knit be for departure Thursday morning!
Why use words when you have pictures?????? That is my theme today:) Instead of trying to come up with all the words to explain what I have been up to these past few weeks, I’ve decided to use my pictures!
Dyed, Spun yarn and knit a shawl for church camp auctionabout 21,870 yards of cashmere singles I spun for Tanglewood ….spinning cashmere…so tough…lolEnjoying/needing my KeurigFood and gardening show is a purrrrfect break from work.Spun and knit up a set of Hand, Feet, and Ear warmers out of Baby Camel Down, Cashmere, and Merino.Working lunch: Planing BSG booth and watching Nascar!Rainbow Swiss Chard sproutingPlanted tomatoesneglected flower bed dug and planted with cucumbers.Carrot watch, the leaves mark the rows of freshly planted rainbow carrot seeds.weighing out fiber to dye for BSGMaking stitch markers for BSGTook pictures of the flowers blooming in the back yardHow’s this for AWESOME glowing yellow tulips!!!!
Well I used a few more words than expected, but I hope you enjoyed catching up with my past few weeks in pictures despite the extra words:)
I’m a list maker and a goal setter. Nothing makes me happier than to cross off a task or reach a goal. Last posting I was getting ready for a Godzilla tv movie marathon in preparation for SPINZILLA. It was grand. By the 2nd movie I was really into the Godzilla/Spinzilla mood. The hardest part was waiting for the start of Spinzilla! At last the start time approached, I snuck a quick nap in before the Midnight hour tolled. One minute after Midnight I was spinning away! I spun for about 4 hours just to officially start the week of spinning. That was my first goal, to be sure to start the race at the drop of the flag. Goal number one accomplished:)
Goal number 2 was to be up and spinning by 8 am each morning, and spend as much time as possible spinning before my 2 am bed time. I did pretty good with this goal. I was late to spinning a few mornings, and stayed up beyond my bed time on a few occasions but it all evened out pretty good. I give myself a passing grade on this goal, did good, but not Gold Star good.
Goal number 3 was to photo document my spinning as much as possible. I did good on this one…lol…took me over an hour to sort through all the pictures I snapped this past week. Here is some first day progress.
Day 1 results for SPINZILLA 2014
I had a lot of fun with the camera….. Spinning fiber waiting to be spun
Fiber stripped and ready for spinning
The sillies tended to strike in the middle of the night… Sometimes the piles of fiber started spinning on their own…
Spinning fiber spinning
Goal number 4 was to name the new colorway of Bam Huey. This picture confirmed the name I had in mind. Aurora Borealis! I started with a purple/blue color combination for one ply of the yarn for the night sky. The 2nd ply would be the explosion of color produced by geomagnetic storms hitting our atmosphere. I’d say I aced this goal:)
Goal number 5 was to spin more than I did last year. Hit that goal on day 4! I counted up 17,000-ish yards by Thursday surpassing last year’s 16,852 yards.
Hit the 17,000 yard mark with these fresh off the winder skeins
Last year I had to sit out several days due to burns and visitors….not so this year. Everyone did pretty good, just a few phone calls and a few distractions that could have been avoided. On the whole the family was on their best behavior and I didn’t have to work too much during the week.
Goal number 6 was to have the best spinning day ever on Saturday 10/11/14 and do this by spinning 20 hours. Why you ask?!?! Because that was my 20th anniversary of my first spinning lesson. Saturday marked my 20th year of doing what I love best. I met my closest friend and my soon to be mentor on that day. The 3 of us hope to get together a bit later and celebrate. If it were not for these 2 ladies and their support I would not be the spinner I am today. I had to be sure to make it a good day even if I could not spend it with them:) I love to do movie marathons when I have big spinning projects. One of my all time favorites to pop in the DVD player is the extended versions of Lord of The Rings. That is always a great 12 hour kick off. The even better part is that there are now the 2 Hobbit movies to add to that line up giving me about 18 hours of spinning entertainment. To top it off for a full 20 hours of movies I ended with my all time favorite movie, The Wizard of OZ. I can never get tired of watching that movie…what can I say, I’m still a farm girl at heart who wants color in her life!
It was fun to snap some pictures while watching here are some of of my favs….
yet the start of another Hobbit movie
Gandalf watched over me too as I spun along and drank home made mead from my Lord of the Rings Chalice .
Must not make the Wizard mad, must spin faster!!!
Keeping the Dwarf’s beards out of my spinning was a challenge as well
Must keep the Dwarf’s beard out of the fiber and his hands off my mead!
I started spinning at 6 am on Saturday 10/11/14 and finished spinning at 2:15 am Sunday morning when Dorthy decided there really was “No Place Like Home”. There were a few 15 minute meal and bathroom breaks, but for the most part it was spinning, spinning, and more spinning! Wonderful Hubby cooked up this huge 17 pound hunk of beef for 11 hours. Talk about mouth watering caramelized yummy goodness!!!
Braised Beef…It’s what’s for dinner…..and breakfast, and lunch, and for the next week!!!
It was a grand day and I had a wonderful time reaching this goal of 20 hours of spinning on my 20th anniversary:)))))) I’d say I got an A+ on reaching this goal! The best part is I also reached goal number 7 early this day…… to make last year’s missed goal of 20,000 yards!
The days of SPINZILLA did blur one into the next somewhat like this flying plying bobbin…
The days of blur…
Sunday was full of football….can’t say my teams did to well, but still it was a fun day of spinning and yelling/cheering. I snapped this picture for a particular FB friend….. I think you know who you are you green and yellow fan you….lol…
The Green Bay Packers and Spinning, just for you Packer fans! Sorry to my Seahawks Friends…they played so bad I couldn’t bring myself to take a picture 🙁
Before long the week was coming to an end and the final hours were counting down. Goal number 8 was to spin to the very end and cross the finish line strong. I decided that the best way for a strong finish to SPINZILLA week was finish the way I started….with a Godzilla movie……..
SPINZILLA and Godzilla stepping/stomping out…..Monster SPINZILLA YARN VS Godzilla
Midnight struck soon after Godzilla was destroyed, and it was fiber down and time to count yardage. Goal number 8 was to break 30,000 yards…..and I made it!!! 2am picture wasn’t great, so snapped one first thing in the morning… here is over 30,000 yards!!!!
Broke the 30,000 yard goal!
The final goal was to double last years yardage…. I would have needed to spin 34,000 yards to make that goal…..I missed it by about a mile!! My final measured, and remeasured yardage is…….drum roll please……….. 30,723 Monster SPINZILLA yards spun! That is a bit over 17 miles in one week!!!
A happy result to a wonderful week of spinningZZZZZZZZZ……..
Now it is a matter of waiting to see how our Team Knot Another Hat placed. We had many heavy duty spinners working hard! and of course I’m wondering if I will hang on to the individual grand champion spot this year. I’m keeping my fingers crossed, but I well know that there are many spinners faster and better than me…..just not too many as crazy as me when it comes to spinning:)
The release of 1234 Huey has been delayed but should happen soon…..some times life is so much of an adventure that all you can do is put one foot in front of the other. My life is on one heck of an adventure right now. Come take a peek if you DARE!!!!!!
We are still healing from the loss of our little fur girl Pooky. Keeping busy has helped and boy-oh-boy have we been busy! Lets get the personal stuff out of the way first and then on to the important stuff….FIBER!!!!
We are MOVING! For many people moving isn’t such a big deal, they do it all the time……not me. Being a 4+ generation farm girl I never moved growing up. I had a few different dorm rooms and apartments while in college. I was married within a year of graduating from WWU and we have lived in the same house we bought just after being married in 1986. So for the most part I have lived in 2 houses for my 51 years. Twenty eight of those years have been in this old house.
I have to admit a just a few months after moving in to our house I wanted to move out. Not because the house is horrible, but because I am NOT a city girl. Now after 28 years we are moving at last! The reasons for moving are many, some good and some not so good . We are taking a positive approach on this new adventure and see it as the 2 year plan that gets us to our final home. We will be selling our house and moving in with my Mother-in-law. She is 88 and having a total knee replacement next week. Our bakery business has still not recovered from the continuing economic dump of 2008. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the best move for everyone is for us to sell our house take over the basement apartment at mom-in-law’s for the next year or two.
The challenge is to take our 50+ years of collected junk from a 2500 square foot house plus 2 car garage to 550 square feet, plus a storage/dye room of about 100 square feet. Can you say DUMP TRIP????? We have put many things out on the curb and they vanish within minutes. If I had known that the dead air conditioner would be gone in 4 minutes I would not have left it in the attic and tripped over it for 5 years!!! Who knew…lol…. even tho it is funny to see how fast things are picked up it reminds me how bad the economy still is that so many people are desperate enough for cash to troll the neighborhoods for scrap metal. We have put out large piles of scrap metal 5 times and every time it has been a different person picking it up. I’m glad and a bit sad all at the same time….
We have actually enjoyed getting rid of the junk. Most of it really is just junk, some memories, but do I really need things I haven’t seen for over 15 years?!?!?! Not only do we have to empty out our house but we have to move Brother-in-law out of the apt. to an upstairs bedroom. He has lived in the basement for about 35 years and the apt has pretty much become a dumping ground for his junk…..as in there are just a couple of rabbit trails through the room. It is going to take a lot of work to clean out but it will be worth it, and in the long run B-I-L gets a cleaned out usable apt once we move out which makes him happy too!
We will still be making needles, dyeing fiber and spinning yarn through all this adventure, but I may not be able to keep up communication as much as I should. Please bear with me and just holler if you need something, we may be quiet, but we are here working away!
Now on to the important stuff……..Fiber updates and Pictures! First up are pictures from my last trunk show at Yarntastic! Featuring my 2 new handspun lines 1234 Huey and Cam Huey
Handspun 1234 Huey and Cam Huey trunk show at Yarntastic!
I hand paint the 100% Merino fiber for the 1234 Huey Handspun yarn in a 3 color gradient style. These new yarns will soon be available at New Hue Handspuns along with the 75% Merino 25% Baby Camel Down, rustic spun Cam Huey.
I finally have a sample knit from each of the 10 colorways, and all of them done from my own patterns created specifically to show off gradient handspun yarn. The Shawl and Scarf pattern is available free on Ravelry, New Hue Handspuns 1234 and Cam Huey Gradient Shawl here are a few close ups.
1234 Huey Scarf in the Beach colorway
The other new free pattern I have up on Ravelry is the New Hue Handspun 1234 Mitts. Nothing very difficult or exciting about this pattern, just a nice simple plain pair of mitts designed to show off 90-100 yards of handspun yarn.
1234 Huey Mitts in Ocean1234 Huey handspun Mitts in Rose Garden
There are a few more patterns yet to be written up, here is the Shrug I have been working on.
1234 Huey and Cam Huey Shrug in Canyon colorway1234 Huey and Cam Huey Shrug in Tropic
Here is a cute little headband/ear warmer I came up with using some short rows to show off the gradient. I also have one done in the Desert colorway, but no picture yet.
1234 Huey handspun Headband/ear warmer in Meadow.
Last but not least is the Hat or Neckwarmer pattern that needs to be written up.
1234 Huey handspun Hat in the Forest colorway1234 Huey and Cam Huey neck warmer in Mountain colorway
oh what the hay…one more picture:) this one is 1234 Huey in the Prairie colorway . I have paired it with the super baby soft 100% Baby Camel Down . Here you can see that it is balled up and ready to knit. It now is a scarf…….OH MY! I can’t wait until winter to wrap this ultra soft and warm scarf around my neck!
1234 Huey Handspun in Prairie paired with 100% Baby Camel Down
So as you can see, although I have been quiet, I also have been busy. There are a few secret projects I’ve been working on too that won’t be seen until spring, but the work must be done now. I have been playing with some new colorways in between cleaning out my house. The new fall leaves colorway is making me VERY happy:)
Before I know it, it will be September 26th and time to pack up for Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival. My wedding anniversary falls on the same weekend. Last year my truck was hit on the freeway retuning from setting up for the show and I spent my anniversary in the emergency room…..this year I hope for better….lol. As soon as OFFF is over it is time to start stocking up for SPINZILLA…….I have to defend my title of Individual Grand Champion. Last year I competed against 600 US and Canadian spinners. This year it is open world wide and there are almost 1,000 spinners signed up so far!!! I’m going to have to keep my nose to the grindstone to come out any where near the top. Last year I spun 16,852 yards during the week, and I had to take a few days off due to visitors and burning my hand. This year, NO visitors and No dyeing during SPINZILLA. My goal is to break the 20,000 yard mark……we shall see:)
Next time around I hope to have some new Bam Huey colorway pictures for you, right now I need to go restock the shop with fiber, and get to work on listing the 1234 Huey Handspun!
Sign ups for the team have been extended to Midnight Pacific Time JUNE 8th 2014. This is the last chance to purchase 2 new yarn/fiber lines at wholesale prices!!!!!
You may be asking yourself what is a New Line Launch Team. Short answer is that it is a way for Knitters, Spinners and Lovers of Hand Knits, to help me get a new handspun yarn and fiber line into my shop. What do the Team Members get out of it? Wholesale prices!
Starting a new handspun yarn and fiber line takes lots of work and money. Hard work isn’t an issue, I’m used to hard work and love long hours of spinning. It is money that I need to invest into a large fiber purchase. What the team members do for me is prepay for fiber and yarn which gives me the cold hard cash to make a large fiber buy. I will be selling a limited number of spots on the team for knitters, spinners, and lovers of Hand Knits. All kits will be sold at Wholesale prices! This is the first time I have offered handspun yarn, fiber and Hand Knits at wholesale prices to the public. This special pricing will only happen during the launch of a new yarn/fiber line, so grab it while you can because you will not see it for this price again!
How do you become a New Line Launch Team Member? Simple, purchase any kit! Spots on the team will be open from May 10, 2014 Through May 30, 2014. Warning, spots are limited and may sell out prior to the cut off date. Kits can be purchased here here at New Hue Handspuns.
I will be hosting a Knit and Spin Along at my Ravelry Group New Hue Handspuns Creations. Check out the group to see how New Line Launch Team members can receive discount coupons for New Hue Handspuns.com. There will be prizes awarded for team members, the more that participate, the more prizes.
Let’s get on to introducing the yarn!! Here it is at last, the Cam Huey and 1234 Huey handspun yarns and spinning fiber.
Handspun Cam Huey, Merino/Baby Camel Down
The Cam Huey handspun yarn is DK weight 2 ply yarn. The white, thicker rustic ply is 100 % Merino wool. The thin brown ply is Baby Camel Down. Talk about soft and strong! The lofty Merino gives strength and a big squooosh factor to the yarn, and the oh so soft Baby Camel Down just begs to be snuggled. I made an ear warmer/head band out of this yarn last Winter. It was so comfortable and warm, I only took it off to wash it once in a while. I was quite please on how durable the yarn was. The Cam Huey comes in a 200 yard skein.
1234 Huey 100% Merino Wool
The 1234 Huey handspun yarn is also a DK weight 2 ply yarn. Both plies are 100% Merino wool. I hand paint the fiber with 3 colors in a gradient style. I then spin the fiber in the color pattern of 1-2-3-3-2-1. This way you can create a scarf/project with matching ends. The skein for the scarf knit kit is 100 yards. The skein for the shawl size kit is 300 yards. There are 10 colorways for you to choose from.
Three of the colorways are pictured here, Beach, Mountain, and Forest. The remaining 7 colorways will be for those who want a bit of surprise to their package. I will only describe the colors, no pictures
1. Beach – Cream, Pale Green, Pale Blue.
1234 Huey in Beach colorway
2. Mountain – Purple, Bluish Purple, Blue.
1234 Huey – Mountain
3. Forest – Light Green, Dark Green, Brown.
1234 Huey – Forest
4. Ocean – Light Purplish Blue, Medium Blue, Dark Blue.
5. Meadow – Spring green, Medium Green, Dark Green.
6. Rose Garden – Bright Pink, Reddish Pink, Deep Dark Pink.
The Scarf Knit Kit has 500 yards of DK weight handspun yarn. Included in the kit are two 200 yard skeins of Cam Huey Handspun yarn and one 100 yard skein of 1234 Huey Handspun yarn, your choice from 10 colorways. Along with the yarn you will receive my new scarf/shawl pattern, created specifically for this yarn combination. The pattern will be available on Ravelry, or I can email a PDF copy to you, or a hard copy can be included with the yarn shipment if you prefer. There will be only 50 of these kits offered at the wholesale price.
THE SHAWL SIZE KNIT KIT
The Shawl size kit is 3 times the size of the scarf kit. This kit includes Six 200 yard skeins of the Cam Huey Handspun, and one 300 yard skein of 1234 Huey Handspun. Along with the yarn you will receive my new scarf/shawl pattern, created specifically for this yarn combination. The pattern will be available on Ravelry, or I can email a PDF copy to you, or a hard copy can be included with the yarn shipment if you prefer. There will be only five of these kits offered at the wholesale price.
THE SPIN KIT
Spin kit with Forest
The Spin Kit will include all the fiber needed to make the 3 skeins of yarn in the Scarf size knit kit. Six ounces of Merino wool, two ounces of Baby Camel Down and two ounces of hand painted Merino wool. Be sure to join in the Spin along on Ravelry if you would like coaching on how to spin it up like Cam Huey and 1234 Huey. There will be only 50 of these kits offered at the wholesale price.
LOVERS OF HAND KNITS
Do you love handspun hand knits, but you just don’t have the time or energy to spin and knit for yourself? Want to give someone a very special birthday or holiday gift? This is your chance to join the team and help support the New Line Launch! I will be offering VERY limited spots for Lovers of Hand Knits. There will be two finished Scarves offered and one finished Shawl. All hand knits will be dyed, spun and knit to order with your choice from 10 colorways. Expect 1-3 months for delivery. Your delivery date will be set when order is placed.
Scarf in Cam Huey and 1234 Huey – BeachShawl in Cam Huey and 1234 Huey – Forest
Launch Teams memberships will be available from May 10 – June 8th. No limit on how many of the kits you can purchase, but the total number of kits is limited to 50 Scarf Knit Kits, 5, Shawl Knit Kits, 50 Spin kits, and 3 Lovers of Hand Knits. USA shipping will be a $6 flat rate. I will ship international, but I am sorry to say that this time around I will have to charge actual shipping costs. I’ve always kept international shipping at a flat rate of $6, but I can’t afford to pay the additional shipping cost on wholesale purchases. International purchases will receive a paypal invoice for the actual additional shipping costs over $6 after purchase is made.
International orders will ship on Monday July14, 2014. USA orders will ship on Monday July 21, 2014. If all orders are completed ahead of schedule I will ship earlier!
PRICING
Scarf Knit Kit : Retail price, $98 New Line Launch Team price, $58.80
Shawl Knit Kit : Retail price, $294, New Line Launch Team price, $176.40
Spin Knit Kit : Retail price, $48, New Line Launch Team price, $28.80
Finished Scarf : Retail price, $198, New Line Launch Team price, $118.80
Finished Shawl : Retail price, $594, New Line Launch Team price, $356.40
I’m excited to get the Cam Huey and 1234 Huey lines up and running, and am looking forward to getting to know the team! Come by Ravelry and introduce yourself in the group.
I’ve been swimming in fiber this past month and it has been a blast. It’s been fun, but I realized that I need to set aside time in my schedule to blog! Once again it is a game of catch up….Here is what I have been up to lately….
Early April I was invited to bring my fiber and yarn back to Yarntastic!, for the Yarn Train weekend. The train brings a hundred plus knitters from the Seattle area to Portland to yarn shop hop. It was nice to chat with so many enthusiastic knitters and even some spinners too. When ever I am out with my yarns I am always spinning. This was the first time that I did not spin. I had knitting that needed finishing and mini skeins that needed tying and tagging. It was a really strange feeling to be out in public with out Miss Mini, but it did give me a chance to show off our needles in action. Someday I am going to figure out how to spin and knit at the same time……. Don’t laugh I’ve done crazier things in the past 🙂 I was so caught up in my knitting that I forgot to take pictures at Yarntastic! but here is a shot of the mini skeins drying.
Many Minis
Once I was back home from Yarntastic! It was time to start prepping fiber for Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival. I ordered up fiber, and started dying like crazy. Over 20 pounds of fiber hand painted in 3 days. Weighing out and rolling the fiber took most of one day! Check out the racks of drying fiber.
Baa Baa Huey and Bam Huey Drying
here’s another pile of fiber that is dry and waiting to be packaged.
Sure wish fiber would bag itself…lol
Before I knew it, it was time to start packing up for CGFF. We managed to get almost everything in the truck, but the new display tree did have to ride on top.
Packed Puppy Truck
As usual I didn’t get all the fiber packaged before the show, but I always find time to finish rolling the fiber after I set up my booth. For the past 2 years I have shared a booth with the Jenkins and their beautiful Turkish Spindles, but they were not able to make it this year. Ed and Wanda are great fun to hang out with at the shows, so it was a little lonely not having them there. I did love spreading out and filling a whole booth, and once the show opened I didn’t have time to be lonely 🙂 I had wonderfully fun new neighbors to chat with at my new booth.
The Garden Room
I had an excellent new location right at the front doors next to the info booth. The windows are great for lighting up the lace shawls but played havoc with my camera flash. It really wasn’t that yellowish in the room. I have always used a garden theme for my displays, from my shawl flowers to the yarn hanging on the garden fences. I don’t have a green thumb for a regular garden, but in my fiber garden I grow yarns of many colors. This year I added a tree to the garden.
Fiber, yarn and shawl Tree
There was also a plant stand and planters to show off small color work projects, seen on the right side of the picture.
Garden fence and new plant stand at CGFF
The new fountain display flowing with mini skeins of handspun yarn somehow missed getting in the pictures. I will be sure to get a picture next show.
One of my favorite parts of vending at fiber shows is when people bring their projects they have made from my fiber and handspun yarn. Check out this beauty made from a skein of handspun Baa Baa Huey Lace. BEAUTIFUL!!!
Handspun Baa Baa Huey lace gradient.
It was a fun show as always. A beautiful start to each morning, how is this for a room view!
Sunrise from the deck
The Columbia Gorge is a beautiful place and so close to home, makes me feel a little spoiled:)
Once I was unpacked and inventory done, it was then time to get moving on my new yarn line. I’ve been knitting up samples of the new yarns. Unfortunately I made a math mistake in figuring yardage. This means I had to redo all my figures and resize the skeins, thus a delay in releasing the yarn. BUT don’t fret, it will happen soon. This weekend the new yarn will make it’s appearance and you will have a chance to snag some up at a VERY good price. Details will be in my next posting on Friday. Check back and see how you can be a part of the New Hue Handspuns New Line Launch Team.
The Ravellenic Winter Games 2014 are in Day 6 now. I’m playing on Team Knitspot, and have made some progress. I have 2 projects in the WIP Dancing event. I’ve added a few repeats to my Flamming Swan but my Blue Sugar Frosting is still awaiting some attention. What I have been working on is my Fleece to Finished Object game. I’m using my new colorway Water Lilies with Anne Hanson’s Hillflowers. I started by dyeing the Bam Huey Fiber with a new dyeing pattern I’ve been experimenting with. The dyeing pattern needs a little more tweaking to achieve the look I was going for, but I have to say I am pretty pleased with the results.
Bam Huey in Water Lilies quick drying in front of the fire place.Water Lilies split into 16 strips ready for spinning
I spun up 2 skeins of the Water Lilies. The first I split the 3 oz roll of fiber length wise into 16 strips and plied it against itself . I’m using this skein for the scarf. The second skein I spun up in a heavy sport weight and plan to make a set of mitts to go with the scarf. Here is the start of my Water Lilies and Hillflowers.
Water Lilies and Hillflowers
I’ve been finishing and testing the first batch of our size 2 and 6 Newhouse Custom Carbon Fiber Needles . We have had some rod issues and we have chosen to redo some of the needles. Sorry that this has delayed shipping by a day or two, but we want your needles to be purrrrrrfect!
Mr X’s Sweater is in a time out. The re-seaming is moving along slowly, hopefully I will get back to it in the next day or so and GET-ER-DONE!
I have another Trunk Show coming up at the end of February, and I will have all the details of that in my next post.Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival is looming. I’ve been making plans for that and will tell you about them soon.
Until next time,
Happy Spinning and Knitting!
Cheryl <^..^>
I’m having a hard time believing that it is 2 weeks into the New Year. I remember when a year seemed to take for ever, now I blink and a year has passed! I’m going to have to kick it into high gear if I want to keep up!!!! I haven’t shown my face here for the past few weeks, but I have been busy. Let’s play catch up!
We left off with me doing a 10 pound hand painted fiber restocking over at New Hue Handspuns. My web host gave me a bit of a scare by going off line for several hours, but fortunately it revived itself in time for me to get the listings all done and up just after midnight. There is lots of fiber to choose from and I have been restocking the sold out colors as often as I can. Gneiss Rock has been a big hit and I am trying to find some time to spin one up for myself! I want to do a two ply fractal spin with very short repeats. I’m thinking of knitting it up in a very pebble like pattern.
Bam Huey Spinning Fiber in Gneiss Rock
More of the Gneiss Rock is being dyed this weekend and should be available in the store about Monday:)
After the fiber update and getting the shipping done I headed out to do some more farm sitting for Steve. I started to come down with a cold the morning I left. Sneezing and achy all I could think of was a nice hot bowl of chicken noodle soup. Fortunate for me Steve did an excellent job of food shopping and I had every thing I needed to make up a nice big HOT pot of Chicken Noodle Soup:)
Home made Chicken Noodle Soup at Steve’s
I love spicy hot food especially when my sinuses are clogged. I found a big bottle of hot sauce in the fridge and added a good quarter cup of it to the soup, that and a fresh grind of pepper just before serving…..just what I needed to blow those sinuses right open and chase the cold away…well that and lots of orange juice.
I felt better after the soup, but didn’t have the energy to do much knitting while I was there. I had Mr X’s sweater with me. I only have 1 inch left to knit on the arms and then it is time to start seaming…… or screaming as the case may be for me. I think I keep stalling on knitting that last inch because I’m not too confident about my ability to seam. Here is the Sweater, waiting……..waiting……..waiting…. Better just bite the bullet and get-er-done!
Mr X’s Sweater parts waiting for seaming
I couldn’t completely give up knitting while I was vegging in front of the TV, watching movie after movie. When the Princess Lap Puppy allowed me, I knit on this….
Handspun Hat ala Left overs
I always have left over bits of handspun yarn rolling around. I rounded up a bag of them and decided that there was a hat some where in there. I’m am knitting with 2 yarns at the same time, something I haven’t done in a project before. One yarn is Alpaca that I spun up 17 years ago that is left over from a pair of socks. The other yarn is a Merino and Angora blend that has been hanging around for over 10 years. This is going to be one WARM hat! I’m making it up as I ago, but I’m liking the results so maybe I had better write it down now, before I forget what I did. Don’t you hate that…. you think “oh I’ll remember that”……yeah right….better go get a pen and paper…
There was plenty of football watching during my stay . The Seahawks manage to hold on to the win….had to start wondering about them at the end of the 4th quarter. There were some knuckle biting tense moments during the game, but I had set up plenty of munchies for my football party for one.
Football snack trayCheese and Crunchy for football day
I’m now back home and ready to play with fiber. My wonderful needle making husband has just returned from picking up 10 pounds of Bam Huey fiber for me…..time to hit the dye tables. I see Frog Ponds, Ancient Roses, Gneiss Rocks, and Carmels in my near future….
The past month has been a little hectic. I’ve been busy spinning, dyeing, baking, and playing catch up. I decided to start the New Year off with a bang, and have a fiber fill in at New Hue Handspuns . At 12:08 AM Pacific time New Year Day I will push the button and 20 fiber listing will appear in the shop! Seven are old favorites that are restocked at last and 13 colors that have never been listed on the website before! Here is a peek at what has been going on in the dyeing /dinning room.
Prepping for New Year’s Day Fiber Fill
The Drying /Sun room has been filled and the fiber is dried, waiting for packaging.
Fiber dyeing for the New Year Restocking.
The listings are ready to go live at 12:08 am, hopefully all will go smooth. Hostmonster was off line for a few hours this morning sending me into a little panic….lol…ok not so little. All seems to be well now, keeping my fingers crossed:)
The year is almost over and I am looking forward to brand new year. True it is only a date and a new calendar to hang on the wall, but for me it signals time to start new plans, to improve on old plans, and focus my energy on moving toward my goals.
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